1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer databases. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for restoring a database to a state as it existed at a previous point in time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Relational databases are often used to store data used by computer systems. In a relational database, the data is stored in the form of tables, where the tables include rows and columns. The relationship among the data is also stored in the form of tables. The database can be changed by performing transactions which change the data and/or change the tables or other data structures or objects used to manage or store the data.
Examples of transactions that may be performed in a relational database include: a transaction that inserts one or more new rows into one or more tables of the database; a transaction that changes data represented in one or more columns of one or more rows in the database; a transaction that deletes one or more rows from one or more tables of the database, or deletes one or more tables altogether; a transaction that adds one or more new tables to the database or otherwise changes the schema of the database.
Users (e.g., administrators of the database) may sometimes need to “undo” some of the transactions that have occurred in the database, e.g., in order to restore or roll back the database to a state as it existed at a previous point in time. For example, a transaction which previously occurred in the database may have erroneously deleted data or one or more tables from the database, or may have otherwise changed the database in an undesired way.